Ready for anything. Note 20. A bit confusing.

Ready for anything. Note 20. A bit confusing.

05-29-2004, 12:17 PM

I read note "A change in focus equals a change in result" and it seems I missed the point. I mean all previous notes in the book were pretty pratcical. They not barely threw an idea but also gave some advice how to achieve the point. But this one comes to nothing than merely rising the question and I see no advice how to deal with it. Did I miss something or finding solution is left to the reader? Anybody has the same filling?

I think it means something like this: If you decide to focus on red while you are driving along, you see a lot more red cars than if you were focusing on yellow. It doesn't change the truth (whether you saw it or not!), but your focus really affects the "result" of your observations.

Gordon

Comment

I got the point but what I expected is how to "relax, refocus". I feel just to say to yourself "hey, why I'm not focused on the things I need but instead absent-minded? Let's focus!" doesn't help much. Though I'm agree theme "relax-refocus" serves its own book:- )

I recently re-read this chapter and it inspired me to start doing something a little different with my focus each week. It's had quite an impact on my productivity.

For example, a couple weeks ago I decided to focus on brainstorming. I realized that I had a number of projects that I really hadn't thought out very well. I used my commuting time and other discretionary time to think about projects and really get a grip on where they stood and why they were on my list. As new items showed up I spent time brainstorming the overall project. After doing this, several of my stuck projects are back in progress and I've better integrated the brainstorming step of the Natural Planning Model into my life and system.

Benjamin Franklin used to have a weekly focus as he worked to build his 13 virtues. Changing our focus, even slightly, can have a dramatic impact on our lives. It's good to shift our focus. For example, imagine if you decided to focus one week on being thankful. You might creat a list of things that you were thankful for, you might tell every person that you encounter that appreciate such and such about them, you might send thank you cards, when bad things happen, you might re-analyze the situation to find something to be thankful for. That would likely make quite an impact on your own life and your relationships.

Now, back to your original question. In the introduction, David talks about focus as I just have. In the main body he talks about relaxing and refocusing. It might be cool to take a week and focus on relaxing and refocusing. Maybe you could set alarms through the day and everytime they go off you stop whatever you are doing and try to relax. Then, just as quickly as you relaxed, you could attmept to refocus. You might jump from one next action to another that requires a totally different train of thought (stop writing a report and start organizing your top desk drawer for example.) I think the idea is to see how quickly we can regroup when surprises come up in our life. Give it a try and see how it affects you.